Company drive nets big results for Salvation Army

Thursday

Dec 23, 2010 at 3:15 AM

By VICTORIA GUAY

A local business has delivered on its promise to help fill the shelves of the Salvation Army's food pantry, just when it is most-needed.

Rob Stewart, owner of All Brite Cleaning and Restoration Inc., Gilford, along with his daughter, Krysten, and a few employees, were at the Salvation Army of Laconia's Union Avenue headquarters on Wednesday to deliver the approximately 3,000 nonperishable food items they collected over three Saturdays during a food drive at the Tilton Market Basket.

For every can or other item donated, All Brite contributed two.

Captain Stephen Warren, who currently heads the Salvation Army of Laconia with his wife, Captain Sally Warren, said the donation could not have come at a better time.

"Most of our stock has been depleted with people coming in for holiday food baskets," Warren said. "This delivery will help get us through to July."

Warren added that the Salvation Army has seen a spike in food basket requests this year, noting that the average number of requests hovers around 250 families. This year, however, they already have helped 350 families seeking food for the holidays and they have a waiting list with another 40 to 50 families.

Stewart said his company, along with CRDN (Certified Restoration Drycleaning Network) out of Nashua, has been doing this for four years, ever since learning about the depth of need in the community.

He said the company had been hired to clean some floors at the Salvation Army and the operations manager came back and asked Stewart if there was something he could do.

"So we came up with the idea of soliciting food donations," Stewart said. "That's how it started, and it has taken on a life of its own."

Employees, donating their time, spent every Saturday in December, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., collecting food donations at the Market Basket store in Tilton.

Stewart said donations this year were down slightly compared to previous years.

"I think the economy has something to do with it," Steward said.

But the cleaning company's efforts were redoubled this year by a bowling tournament it held that raised $1,000, which the company donated in check form to the Salvation Army food pantry earlier this year.

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